Oil in Degas Bottle.
2004 excursion 6.0. 110K runs awesome. EGR blew about 3 yrs ago, I went with the EGR delete and upgraded to HD oil cooler. About 10K miles have elapsed.
I have come to learn the shop I used has a poor ethics and quality reputation. All was well, until I checked the degas bottle myself recently, as I never did a quality check on their initial work. I also have come to learn that my Regular 'Service' at this same shop consisted solely of Oil and filter changes only. Ugh ! My hope was that the shop never did an adequate flush after replacing the HD oil cooler and EGR delete and . I personally flushed the system via the recommended method including fleetguard cooling system restore, distilled water and gold.
It's back, with ever so slight oil consumption (1/2 quart over apx 5K miles). No apparent water in the oil. My thoughts lean toward head gasket, but hope for anything less severe. Any suggestions anyone?
Crazy stories abound of body-off for this type work. I don't buy it.

 

Welcome to FTE Since the shop is not to be trusted, what oil cooler do you think was installed? What method do you have to check the temperature spread between the oil and cooling system temperature? What temperatures are you seeing?

 

Also, oil in the coolant forms a sludge or "milkshake" looking/consistency material. Head gaskets leaking can put fine carbon particles in the coolant, but you would also typically see the degas bottle cap relieving pressure and would see evidence of some coolant spraying from the cap into the engine well.

 

Thanks Maxium, bismic.
I had purchased a Sinister kit, which included both the delete and HD oil cooler. I can visually confirm (barely) that the delete was installed, assumption is that the cooler was as well.
Prior to the recent flush, there was No evidence of degas blow-by, but upon return of my trip yesterday, I have that milkshake mess and oil blowby from the degas. It would appear now that at the time of the flush, I merely stumbled upon the developing problem. I have normal coolant temp reading on the instrument gauge. No Oil temp available.
I do have an OBD2 live reader built into my stereo. I will attempt to determine the temp spread between the oil and water.
Having just now seen the degas cap blowby, I do fear the head gasket.
I will post temp differential asap.

 

The coolant temp gauge and oil pressure gauge on the dash are completely worthless unless its to late.

Get yourself some way to start scaning things.....

I wouldn't keep driving it, plan on doing another oil cooler.

Tee in a pressure gauge to the degas bottle that'll let you know about your head gaskets.

 

Easy enough to do a tee, but won't that just peg out at 16psi where the the degas cap relieves?

 

Sorry, but I don't have much good to say about aftermarket oil coolers (especially for anything claiming to be high flow), except for the BPD products.

 

I had oil in my degas bottle. I could smell diesel when I opened the degas cap. Took it in to BPD shop and they found a small crack in the engine head on the passenger side where a valve goes. I was told that this is common with 6.0 heads. Spent the money and had them press hardened sleeve in each cavity for both heads and it's been over a year and no problem!

 

Fortunately the OP hasn't mentioned diesel in the degas! From the somewhat infrequent posts in the forums regarding fuel in the coolant, I don't know if it is common, but it sure is more frequent than we would like!

The gauge will help you determine if the cap is relieving at a pressure below where it should. This can happen with a bad cap, a warped degas bottle (usually from heat), an uneven cap sealing surface, or an overfull degas level. The gauge is a way to confirm whether or not you actually have a pressure issue. I don't know about helping you now though. You need to get the oil cooler fixed before you run it looking for a potential head gasket issue, unless you want to proactively do head studs in conjunction with the oil cooler work.

 

FWIW-I bought an 04 6 l powerstroke and the oil cooler had been replaced. I bought it out of state and that Ford dealer told me the system had been flushed. When it arrived, I had the local Ford dealer flush the system-they said everything was fine. I just happened to check the coolant and I had the milkshake in the Degas bottle but the oil was find. Here is what I did-I flushed it with regular water non stop for about 40 mins. Then I flushed it with 16 gallons of distilled water and left the proper dilution of antifreeze (orange) I then installed a coolant filter and also put on a new degas bottle, No More milkshake. Even after all the flushing I did I changed hoses and found some of that gray slime. In he bottom radiator hose. The biggest place it gets is in the hose between the degas bottle and the top of the radiator. Mine was completely blocked with the gray crud (what the milkshake settles out to become. If the oil cooler had been changed, then you know it was screwed up and you automatically get oil in the coolant...so before you worry yourself too much about the head gasket, flash the snot out of it and put in a coolant line filter. My situation was because somebody either did a half *** job flushing the system or didnt do it at all.